


What's Real

by taibhrigh



Category: Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Genre: Community: smallfandomfest, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-04
Updated: 2012-12-04
Packaged: 2017-11-20 06:58:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/582578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taibhrigh/pseuds/taibhrigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vaako's nightmares are filled with statues and ghosts and his waking hours are filled with trying to stay alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's Real

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [siluria](http://archiveofourown.org/users/siluria) for the beta.
> 
> This was written for smallfandomfest #12 on LJ.

Vaako wandered the halls of the Basilica. Things had changed. The Necromongers, his ex-wife included, were all frozen in place like half dead statues. There was no living thing in sight. He followed the wispy white figure that reminded him of an Air Elemental but with less physical detail. Past the balconies that overlooked the throne room and through the purification rooms. He wasn't sure where he was being led or why he was even following.

He felt something slide past him and saw another wispy figure, and then another until there were dozens. They were surrounding him, grabbing at him and pulling him forward and down. He felt like he couldn't breathe, like his breath was being stolen and still the Necromongers stood like statues even as he began to fight and struggle. He wasn't ready to die. He wanted to live. He was stronger than this.

His struggles continued even as more hands grabbed at him until he was carried all the way to the ground. The last thing he saw before succumbing to whatever was happening was a set of shining silver eyes.

Vaako bolted upright, gasping for air while rubbing at his head and then his neck. The wounds of his purification were burning even though he'd not stepped foot inside one of those chambers in almost a year.

He didn't believe in ghosts but this nightmare had kept him from any restful sleep for the past month. It always ended with Riddick looking at him like the other man was waiting for him to come to some decision.

Not giving himself time to think about the nightmare or what he really wanted from Riddick, Vaako left the bed. He dressed as quickly and efficiently as ever and was out the door to work with the troops that were still loyal to him while praying that no one challenged him for his position today.

~~~***~~~

"Damn it," he screamed, just barely stopping himself from throwing his arms up into the air in frustration. There was no one to hear him except the frozen Necromongers and the wispy white creatures. He was back in the long hallway following the _ghost_.

He stopped following. That was it, he was tired of this. He spun on his heel and walked back the way he imagined he would have come. The wispy form tried to get him to follow again but he ignored it. Instead turning in the direction of the closest vertical shaft knowing that none of the lifts would work in his dream. He climbed up through the narrow access shaft until he was on the Command Deck. There were a handful of frozen Necromongers, but no Lord Marshal. Vaako moved around until he came to the large window that looked out into space. That right now faced out toward the Threshold.

"Fuck me," he whispered, stepping closer to the window.

There was a chuckle somewhere off to his left but he ignored it to get a closer look at what appeared to be a mass of swirling living matter. He reached out and laid his hand on the glass of the window. It was cool to his touch and yet somehow felt alive, as if the Threshold was reaching back toward him.

He wasn't sure how long he stood there gazing out at the Threshold. "I'm awake, aren't I?" he finally asked, not bothering to turn around; knowing now the chuckle had been Riddick.

"Only one to wake up."

"Huh."

Through the reflection of the window he finally saw Riddick move. Saw the man's feral grace as he crossed the distance to stand off to Vaako's left. Saw that the silver eyes seemed to shine even more in the reflection. "How long?" Vaako asked.

"You snapped out of it after about a day, but kept following back."

"The ghosts?"

Riddick didn't answer just gave him a look that said Vaako had to figure that one out on his own.

Vaako turned around and leaned his back against the window. "It was the Threshold. The ghosts are the Threshold trying to wrangle those who shouldn't be awake. Why am I not a statue like the rest?"

Riddick tilted his head. "Do you want to be?"

"No."

"What do you want?" Riddick asked him, moving in closer until there was little space between them.

"A good night's sleep."

Riddick chuckled. "What else?" he asked and Vaako got the impression that Riddick already knew the answer to that.

 _Fuck it,_ Vaako thought and pulled Riddick's head in and kissed the other man. He wanted Riddick. He'd wanted the Furyan from the moment he had laid eyes on him. Riddick could have the title of Lord Marshal, as long as he got to have Riddick. 

Vaako had control of the kiss for only a few seconds before Riddick was moving in closer, pushing his body into Vaako's and pushing Vaako into the window. Vaako didn't care. They could rule it all together. They were meant to stand together.

He didn't know how much time had passed or exactly when they had climbed onto the Strategy and Battle Table but both he and Riddick were laying naked on the hard surface and their clothes were everywhere on the Command Deck. As if they'd moved around as they stripped, fighting for dominance. They each had bite and scratch marks over the majority of their bodies. He remembered climaxing twice, no, three times. 

Vaako rolled from the table. He felt great. Better than he had in decades. He stretched muscles that had definitely been worked out and moved back to the window and the Threshold. It was still a swirling, living mass but now he could see other ships. Ghost ships moving closer to the center of the Threshold.

"It's like the Sirens of old," Vaako observed when Riddick stepped up behind him. Remembering old stories of long ago Earth, sailing ships lost at sea because of the beautiful voice of a woman. 

Riddick said nothing, instead wrapping his arms around Vaako's body and propping his chin on Vaako's shoulder. He watched as one of the ships seemed to enter the very center of the Threshold and just turned to dust. The dust looked to hang in space for a second and then became part of the Threshold.

"Pick another," Riddick whispered.

Vaako looked into the reflection of Riddick's eyes and then picked another ship. The ship began moving towards the Threshold and Vaako leaned into the window watching. His tongue wet his lips just as the ship reached the center, and when this one dissolved away into nothingness Vaako grinned. He backed away from the window just enough to see his reflection, eyes as silver as Riddick's. Riddick grinned at him.

"What do you want?" Riddick asked him again.

"The Universe," Vaako answered, knowing he already had Riddick. Knowing that the Threshold had chosen them for whatever it was she had planned next.

"That's why you're not a statue," Riddick whispered into his ear before leaving a trail of licks and nips down his neck.

Vaako relaxed back into Riddick and sent another ship on a course for the center of the Threshold. It was all theirs.

**~end~**


End file.
